


The Gentle Fall of Snow

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Night Terrors, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Serial Killers, Snowed In, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28277871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: A twist in a case brings JT and Malcolm out to the cabin in the woods. Mother Nature forces them to stay there.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 63
Collections: fandomtrees





	The Gentle Fall of Snow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nothfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothfan/gifts), [literati42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/literati42/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it
> 
>  **Notes:** Written for nothfan for Fandom Trees 2020 and for my friend, Literati42. Happy Holidays

“I cannot believe we’re out here,” JT grumbled, not for the first time. It had been one hell of a drive to get back to the cabin in the woods. At least this time he knew exactly where Bright was. He had chattered the entire way there and JT had spent a tiny bit of time driving and daydreaming about locking Bright in the basement of the cabin. He wouldn’t of course. That would be cruel but oh to have him hush just for a few minutes.

“I’m still shocked my father never mentioned that Watkins was potentially a necrophiliac,” Bright said, trudging through the woods alongside JT. “How could he hold back such an interesting detail? If Gil hadn’t mentioned what my father said when you were looking for me, I’d never have known.”

“Yes, I know, you’ve said this a dozen times on the way here.” JT eye rolled waiting to hear another dissertation on each and every one of the ten types of necrophiliacs as Bright mulled over which Watkins was. 

“How can you not find this interesting?” Bright skirted a fallen log, pulling his coat tighter. He hadn’t listened to reason and was of course in a suit but he had put on boots to walk in the woods. JT took that as a win.

“You had Gil worried about your tendencies.” JT raised his eyebrows at him.

Bright pouted. “I’m not a necrophiliac. I just find it fascinating.”

“Oh, I know, because Edrisa didn’t make our worry lessen when she pointed out you’ve written a paper on the subject.”

Bright stopped and surveyed the area and pointed to the icy creek and a rock formation across its shallow depths. “That looks like turtle, right?”

“Yeah.” JT sighed. Once Bright had learned about Watkins taking his pleasure with cadavers – and the less said about how, why and who supplied them the better as far as JT was concerned – he’d gone to talk to Watkins in prison. That had surprised everyone. Who goes and talks to the man who kidnapped and tortured him and tried to murder his mother and sister? Bright said he was okay but the team followed up that pronouncement with a heavy dose of ‘we’re concerned about Bright.’ 

Bright had come out of the meeting fine, jazzed even because Watkins still felt this bizarre connection to him. He’d given up something, a little treasure trove buried not far from the cabin by a rock that looked like a turtle. Naturally Bright reported it and the higher ups decided they had to go looking _now_. In the freezing cold. With a freaking shovel. They hadn’t brought in crime scene yet. They wanted the detectives to scout it out.

JT had drawn the short stick. Gil had a legitimate meeting with the big bosses. Powell had dodged the job expertly and in private reminded JT she was usually on Bright-wrangling duty. It was his turn at it. JT had never understood rodeos until now. After more than an hour with Bright in the car – so hyper he considered having Malcolm pee tested for uppers when they got back – JT was ready to hog tie him and leave him somewhere. At the very least, he shouldn’t have let Bright get that extra-large, quadruple shot mocha before they left the city. 

JT held the shovel out to Bright who eyed it as if it were a tool from an alien planet. “You got the lead. You dig!”

“But…”

“But what?” JT dared him to finish that statement. He knew he’d end up doing most of the digging. He just wanted to see Upper East Side work a shovel. Of course, with his luck – and Bright’s ability to get hurt every case – Bright would plant it in his own foot and JT would have to piggyback ride him out of the woods.

“But my hand is barely healed.” Bright snatched the shovel after giving him a look that said, yes I am the son of a serial killer and maybe you shouldn’t rile me. He nearly slipped on the iced over creek and used the shovel as a walking stick. JT laughed until he almost landed on his own butt on the ice.

“This is idiotic,” JT huffed. “That trove has been under the ground for years. It could have waited until spring.”

“Watkins hasn’t gone to trial yet,” Bright reminded him and JT grunted. Okay maybe it couldn’t wait but he hated being cold. At least Bright was good about that. He didn’t complain. Weather didn’t seem to bother him. Sitting still, being patient, listening to orders, those were his Kryptonites. 

“You’re not going back to talk to Watkins again after this, are you?”

Bright rolled his shoulders. “Depends on what we find.”

“Guess it could have been worse. He could have told you he was a cannibal or something, and I would have had to listen to you talking endlessly about the joys of cannibalism and where you published your papers on the topic.”

“I haven’t published.” Bright walked around turtle rock trying to make a decision where to dig. “That won’t be out for another six months.”

“What?” JT widened his eyes. He’d been joking. Bright grinned but said nothing. Was he joking or just being annoying?

“This feels right.” He thrust the shovel down and it nearly bounced off the frozen ground.

In the end, both of them took turns working the hard earth, with JT doing most of it because Bright was right. He was barely out of his cast. JT figured Watkins had sent them on a wild goose chase but by the time they had dug a foot down around a third of the rock, they hit a metal box. Together they hauled it out. JT squinted up at the sky realizing it had gotten rather dark earlier than it should.

“Do we open this now or should we go back to the cabin? I don’t like that sky.” He jabbed a finger up.

“Let’s go back.” Bright scooped up the box and JT carried the shovel back. They didn’t get a hundred yards before the snow started. It whipped from the sky as big and wet as ice cream scoops of mashed potatoes. They picked up their pace but the fallen leaves were damp and slippery and rapidly getting covered.

“Son of a…it wasn’t supposed to start snowing until tomorrow,” JT grumbled.

“I know weather is notoriously hard to predict but it might be nice to have a job where you can be wrong half the time.”

JT grunted. At least as a meteorologist he wouldn’t be digging up a serial killer’s trophy box. He could barely see in front of him as snow went from winter squall to blizzard because his day hadn’t been trying enough. When the cabin came into view, Bright broke for it but JT went to the car.

“We can’t drive in this,” Bright protested but he hesitated at the door to the cabin. What had to be going through his mind? JT wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“I know but one of the things you learn in the military, be prepared for everything.” JT tossed the shovel in the trunk and pulled out a cooler. Out of the back seat he grabbed a big fuzzy blanket and a bag of snacks. “I usually have snacks and a blanket in case I’m stuck in traffic for hours in the dead of winter. Get the waters out of the trunk. My hands are full. Knowing I was coming out here, I put some fruit and sandwiches in the cooler. Now I’m glad I did.”

Bright set the box down just inside the cabin. “Smart. I’m glad you did too. I saw some firewood around back. It might be a little wet at this point but it could work.” He fished the six pack of water out of the trunk.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about starting fires.”

Bright sighed. “I do. It’s been a while.”

They got the supplies inside, and then fetched the wood from the pile around back. They brought in more wood than seemed reasonable but JT listened to Bright. If nothing else, he camped as a kid which was more than JT had done. He’d never spent much time in the woods, the desert yes, woods no. Bright had them running around looking for twigs and small branches.

They were wet and cold by the time they were in the cabin to stay. There had been a generator outside but no fuel. Had anyone been here in forever? When he’d been here with the FBI, the cabin did have a used look to it. 

“What now?” he asked.

“I’m assuming we have no bars,” Bright said, poking around near the fireplace. There were old newspapers there and some catalogs. He tore pages out of the catalog and crumpled them. He put them in the grate first but not before fussing with something inside the fireplace.

JT checked his phone. “None. What are you doing?”

“Trying to check the flue. It’s open so the fire can breathe but for all I know there’s a bird nest in the chimney.”

“Well, I’m freezing so if you can get that fire going….”

Bright nodded and kept ripping up the catalog. JT sat next to him and started doing the same. “Let’s save the newspapers for later if we need them. I want to check them in case they are souvenirs of Watkins or my father’s kills.”

“Creepy thought.”

“Everything about this is creepy,” Bright countered and JT knew it was worse for him. He had ugly attachments to this place.

“Truth.”

Once Bright had enough paper piled up, he started with the littlest of twigs and then bigger ones. “Check the kitchen to see if there’s a lighter. There are some long matches here but…”

JT nodded. “On it.”

He did manage to find a barbeque lighter in a drawer. Once Bright got a few logs piled on, he handed it over. It took Bright several tries to get it to light but he got the paper going. 

“Hope the twigs are enough to set that wood burning,” he said.

JT crossed all available digits while Bright gently blew on the flames forcing them under the wood. It smoked heavily but the logs caught and he unfurled from the floor.

“Way to go, Bright. That is going to be good.”

“Hopefully, the smoke won’t fill the cabin. We’ll have to open a window.” He sighed. “We should search for candles. It’ll be dark in here fast.”

By the end of the search, they came up with several candles. JT poked into the rooms. There were three bedrooms and a bathroom. The water seemed to work but there was no power to anything. Outside the snow continued.

“I cannot believe I’m snowed in out in the woods with _you,_ ,” he moaned, going back to the main room.

“Trust me, I’m not thrilled either. This place….” Bright wagged his head.

JT put a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

“Honestly? No. I was hoping we didn’t even have to come inside here.” Bright blew out a long gusty sigh and sagged into the beaten-up couch. “I haven’t been here since I was ten years old.”

JT grimaced. “We thought you were in here when Watkins took you. That little room under this place-”

Bright put up his hand, stopping him. “JT, the last time I was in this cabin, I was asleep in that back room, or chloroformed into unconsciousness or whatever you’d like to call it and my father felt comfortable with going in that room to kill the girl in the box.”

JT patted Bright’s back. “I can’t even begin to know how that feels.”

“Bad. It feels bad,” he said in a flat tone.

“Yeah, I’m sure it does.” It gave JT an even better picture of Bright. For a moment he saw him how Gil did, a vulnerable kid. That Bright was even functional was probably down to the care and energy Gil and his mother had put into him.

Bright shuddered, watching the fire. “I stabbed Watkins that night.”

JT’s jaw dropped and Bright’s expression dared him to say something about it. JT kept his silence.

“They were going to kill me, JT. They brought me here to kill me because my father knew I could betray him.”

“Bright, you don’t have to talk about this. I get that being here is hard on you.”

He shook his head. “I might need to work being here through in my head. It’s overwhelming. I stabbed him and I was so afraid.”

“Dude, you were ten and two serial killers were trying to kill you. If you weren’t terrified, I would have been worried. And you shouldn’t be too upset with yourself for stabbing Watkins. It was him or you. You did what you had to.”

“I wish that made it easier.”

“I know that feeling.” He leveled a look at Bright but his mind was back in the Middle East.

“I’m sure you do.” Bright forced himself up off the couch. “So how should we handle the food? We might get lucky and we’ll get out of here tomorrow. Or we could be up here a while.”

“I do not like the sounds of that.” JT pulled a long face.

“You don’t? I’m already haunted by this place. Can you imagine after being stuck here for days with no food or electricity?” Bright stared at him and in a complete deadpan added, “I might have another few paragraphs to add to my cannibal paper.”

JT stabbed a finger at him. “Nope, you can’t be you and make that joke!”

Bright grinned, utterly unrepentant.

“And we should save the sandwiches for later. If you’re hungry, I have chips, a bag of granola and a bunch of those granola bars. Only those six bottles of water.”

“Well, the water seems to work so there’s that. I think I’d rather boil it first though because who knows where it’s from, probably a well.” Bright made a face. 

“Are you hungry now?”

He shook his head. Of course, he wasn’t. JT fetched a granola bar for himself. 

“Let’s look at the box because the light is fading fast.”

“Okay.”

Getting some nitrile gloves out of their coat pockets, they put the box on the coffee table in front of the couch and pried it open. Inside of it was a cache of jewelry: earrings, rings, cufflinks, bracelets and necklaces. 

“Wow, it’s really here,” JT breathed.

“It is. I suppose Watkins knows there’s no way out of this so he’s proud to take credit for his work.” 

“Do you think this is all Watkins or are some of these your father’s?”

Bright beetled his brow, running his finger over a bracelet. “Watkins kept the girl in the box’s bracelet and my father’s station wagon. I think he was the only souvenir keeper. My father’s souvenirs were the anatomy sketches he made of his crimes. That’s what he uses to relive the killings.” He blew his breath out. “I can’t be certain but I’m ninety percent sure this is all Watkins or at least Watkins keeping things from my father’s kills.”

Seeing the depression clouding Bright’s eyes, JT regretting bringing the question up. “We’ll have to see what he’ll tell us about all of this.”

Bright nodded. “He will be happy to. I’m pretty sure of that too.”

JT trusted Bright’s gut on that. They documented everything on a tablet Bright found in the kitchen. After full dark, they ate a sandwich. Coming to terms with being trapped here all night, JT checked out the bedrooms. Without the generator, they were icy so he grabbed one of the twin mattresses and dragged it to the living room.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s too cold back there and god knows how old and gross the bedding is on any of this. I figured if I have to sleep, it might as well be in here where it’s warm. You did build a good fire.”

“I have surprising talents.” Bright grinned, and he helped JT to drag the mattress over to a comfortable place not too close to the fireplace. 

Together they brought in the other mattress and JT spread the big blanket from the car over both mattresses. 

“I’m going to try to get some sleep. You ready?”

Bright shrugged. “I’m not good with sleep but I’ll try.”

They blew out the candle and settled down. JT had to sleep next to his fellow soldiers in the past. That wasn’t new to him. Bright seemed more uncomfortable. Rich kids probably never had to share anything in their life.

“You okay?”

“It reminds me of boarding school.”

“Another thing I would know nothing about.”

“Think of it like boot camp without the physical activity.”

“Nope, can’t imagine that either.” JT laughed, hyper aware that Bright was next to him but not settled. He had to be uneasy trying to sleep in this place.

“You okay, Bright?”

“It would be better if the flames didn’t throw strange shadows on the walls. I keep expecting to see my father melt out of the darkness.”

“That is not going to happen.” JT glanced around the room, hyperaware now. It wasn’t helpful either, but he wasn’t going to say that to Bright because he could see the struggle in his eyes, even dimmed as they were with nothing but firelight. “Shut your eyes. You won’t see the shadows.”

Bright grunted. “He used to tell me that when I was little and still afraid of the dark but the night light just made it worse. I eventually got used to it, both the night light and the dark.”

“We’re alone here and you know that,” JT said now wondering if that was the truth. _Get Out_ and _Friday the Thirteenth_ ran through his head. Maybe someone was squatting in this place but there were no signs of that. He was letting Bright spook him. “Are you warm enough?”

“Why? Offering to spoon me?” Bright glanced over his shoulder, grinning.

“Was going to give you more of the blanket, wrap it nice and tight….” JT grinned back. “Around your neck.”

He chuckled. “I’m fine. Goodnight, JT.”

“Night, Bright.”

JT wished he could sleep easily. He laid on the hard mattress wide awake for some time. Part of his restlessness was going to bed too early and now he was listening to sounds of someone in the cabin. Was that a soft noise from the basement cell? Was something scratching against the glass? Great, Bright had him completely freaked out.

JT didn’t know when he managed to fall asleep but something slamming into his gut woke him as his breath whooshed out. It hit him again and, after a momentary panic about things to be found in a serial killer’s cabin, he realized it was Bright’s arm. He flailed in his sleep, crying out as he acted out whatever was in his head.

“Bright!” JT barked and Malcolm shot upright, a scream tearing out of him to bounce around the living room.

Bright groaned again, folding in on himself as he covered his face with his hands. 

JT sat up and wanted to reach out to comfort him but he knew better. If nothing else he knew how to handle PTSD. “Breathe, bro. You’re safe. It was a dream.”

The noise Bright made was the sound of a soul in pain. JT had heard that during the war, too. He pushed up off the mattress and stumbled through the cabin to the bathroom. He came back in a few minutes and sat back down on the couch.

“Are you okay now?”

He shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I don’t have too much of a choice.” Bright stared into the fireplace. “You can go back to sleep. I’ll probably be up for a while.” He shifted off the couch and went to put another log on the fire.

“I think I’ll be awake now too.” JT cast a glance out the window. It was still dark, hours yet from dawn. 

“I hate that I woke you up.”

“Bro, I am not unfamiliar with PTSD. I’m not going to throw blame your way for that.”

“Thanks,” Bright replied softly.

JT got up and hit the bathroom himself and then staggered groggily into the kitchen for a little water. He sat on the couch with Bright to help him feel less like he’d ruined the night. “Want to talk for a while until your heart rate slows down a bit?”

“About what? I don’t want to talk about the dream.”

“That’s fine.” JT held up a hand. “I don’t know. How about you tell me a little about Harvard or boarding school? I don’t know much about your life beyond the elephant in the room.”

“I don’t know much about you either.”

“Yes, but I’m not the one who’s a bit freaked out.” JT knew he might regret this but it was okay. He had to work with Bright, so he ought to know more about the man.

“You’ve met Vijay.”

He nodded. He hadn’t really liked the man, but he had seen the joy in Bright to reconnect with his childhood friend. 

“He was the one who made boarding school bearable because I wasn’t well liked, not after the truth of my father came out. Harvard though, that was better. That might be some of the best times of my life. I loved my time there. I made sense there and most people either didn’t know or care about my history. I was still seeing my father then and I shouldn’t have been.”

“He’s still your dad, no matter what,” JT replied.

“But people judged me for it.” He hung his head, staring at his hands. “You and Dani did at first.”

“You’re right. I owe you an apology for that.”

Bright waved him off. “It’s okay. I get it, I do. But you didn’t keep judging me and that’s what matters. This could easily have been just like the FBI. You and Dani could have kept me on the outside like they did. To this day, I don’t know why they even enrolled me in Quantico.”

JT had wondered that himself, especially after meeting Swanson. That was not what Bright needed to hear though. “That’s not happy stuff. Tell me about the happy parts of Harvard.”

Bright did just that, filling JT in on his studies and his friends as he seemed to have a few back then. He was learning just how much friendship meant to Bright and by extension how much he, Dani and Edrisa meant. JT learned more than he needed to about art museums and bookstores and shopping on Newbury street.

Finally, he got Bright back onto the mattresses and covered up. Not two minutes later, an owl hooted in the distance and Bright was right back up out of bed, running to the window to look out. 

JT sighed. “You’re like sleeping next to a chihuahua.”

Even in the dim light of the fireplace, JT saw the massive stink eye Bright sent over his shoulder as he stood at the window.

“You know it’s true. You’re small, you startle easily, you yap a lot.” _You shake_ , JT added mentally. 

“You _asked_ me to talk.”

“I meant in general. That was an owl and you know it.”

Bright sighed but he stalked back over to the mattresses and stretched out. “I know but…”

“Yeah, I get it. Trust me, I’m listening for the ghosts too.”

Bright sighed more deeply, and he snuggled up with part of JT’s blanket. JT shut his eyes, hoping they’d both get some rest now.

X X X

JT heard someone moving in the cabin which woke him up. Sun streamed into the cabin, reflecting off the snow. He, for one, welcomed back the sun after that dark night. He rolled onto his side and saw Bright standing at the counter. He nibbled at some of the granola.

“Morning, hope I didn’t wake you.” Bright said.

“It’s time to get up. I see the snow’s stopped.” JT fought his way out of the bedding.

“It’s beautiful actually.”

JT thought that might be debatable. He went to pee and wash up. When he walked back into the main room, Bright was gone and the front door was open a crack. He shook his head. “A freaking chihuahua.”

He found Bright outside taking pictures with the crime scene camera they kept in the car. The sun glinted off the foot or more of snow that had fallen and Bright was right. It was actually beautiful. Snow clung to the evergreen branches and piled high on the car except where Bright had burrowed his way in to get the camera. A set of footprints was close to the cabin, not human but somehow unnerving to him anyhow.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s like a Christmas card,” Bright replied, turning around, and snapping a photo of JT. 

“Give me that!” He took the camera away and Bright pouted. He snapped a few of Bright and handed it back. 

“I didn’t want to use the phone’s camera and lose what charge I have left. Still no bars.”

“Same. Any idea what this is?” JT pointed to the footprints.

Bright peered at them. “Deer.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. What? Did you think it was the Jersey Devil?” He smirked.

“I’m snowed into a serial killer’s cabin in the woods with _you_. Would the Jersey Devil be that outrageous?”

Bright snorted and went back to taking pictures. JT went inside, wishing for coffee or tea but made do with water and a granola bar with a side of chips for breakfast. Bright came in, knocking snow off his feet. “So, any thought about what we do now?”

“They have to be missing us at this point and someone might be looking for us.”

Bright considered that. “True but that’s a lot of snow.”

“I noticed. I guess we eat sparring unless you know how to shoot a deer.”

Bright shot him a dubious look. “I doubt it takes much to shoot one. It’s the dressing out I know nothing about. We might have to forage for more firewood. I saw an axe on the side of the house.”

“Of course, you did. What is it with you and axes?” JT shook his head.

He shrugged. “I just like them. They were one of the first weapons I wanted to collect. Mother said no. It wasn’t until I was older that I started with them. Gil was equally unimpressed.”

“Probably knew you’d chop off someone’s hand with one though he probably expected it to be your own.” JT rolled his eyes, and Bright huffed at him but cocked his head to the side.

He ran to the front door as JT said ‘chihuahua’ under his breath.

“What is it?”

Bright held up a hand. “I think I hear an engine.”

“I think you’re nuts.”

Bright strained to hear something before shrugging. He went to stoke up the fire but didn’t add another log as the sound of an engine became much clearer.

“Okay so you heard an engine.” JT looked out the window. “I think that’s a Park service truck with a big old plow on it.”

“You mean something might actually be going right?”

“Looks like. But you might want to keep that poker handy.”

JT opened the front door and sure enough it was a Park Service truck. A ranger got out of it as did his partner. The back doors to the big truck opened and Dani and Gil emerged. “Hey!”

“You didn’t freeze to death.”

“Is that Dani?” Bright asked.

“Yeah. Turns out Bright is handy at making fires.” JT stepped back and let their partners in.

Dani quirked up an eyebrow. “Almost homey in here.” She pointed to the mattresses on the floor.

“No heat in the back rooms. I wasn’t freezing my butt off in here,” JT replied.

“So, you come bearing caffeine?” Bright asked hopefully.

Gil snorted. “No but we can get some once we’re out of the woods.”

“Are you going to follow us back down?” one of the rangers said.

“Hell yes,” JT said.

“We’ll have to finish off the fire,” Bright added.

JT was of the mind this cabin could burn to the ground but Bright and Gil set about extinguishing the fire while JT put the mattresses back. He came out into the living room with his fuzzy blanket. “I’m not even sure I want this back all things considered.”

“I already put the fire out. You’ll have to burn it at home. Maybe along with this suit.” Bright made a face, tugging at his clothing.

“We’re just glad to find you both safe,” Gil said, putting a hand on the back of Bright’s neck.

“And that you didn’t freeze,” Dani added, smiling. 

“It was a near thing, I swear, especially if the eagle scout over there didn’t know how to build a fire.”

“I’m not an eagle scout,” Bright protested as Gil propelled him toward the door. Bright broke away, yanked on his leather outdoor gloves and gathered up Watkins’s treasure box. “And we found Watkins’s souvenirs.”

Gil and Dani both stared at him, stunned. “I swear I thought he was just yanking your chain, Bright,” Gil said.

“You actually dug it up?” Dani asked.

“It’s full of jewelry. We’ll have to have CSU dust it all and start comparing it with …missing persons? I’m not even sure really. It looks like someone will be having a long conversation with Watkins,” Bright said, sounding optimistic it would be him.

“We’ll talk about that later,” Gil said.

“He’s going to talk about it all the way home, which might be a nice break from the non-stop lecture on the joys of necrophilia.” JT snagged his snacks while Bright rescued the camera off the counter. “You two at least get to go back with the rangers.”

Dani shook her head. “That truck sucked, no offense guys.”

“None taken,” one of the rangers assured her. The front is comfortable, but those little back seats are murder. “The snow’s deep so stay in the middle and just follow behind us.”

“Will do,” JT said, walking over to Gil and Dani after Gil beckoned him over and Dani went to talk to Bright. “Yeah?”

“How’s Bright?” Gil whispered.

“Weirded out about being here, had a nightmare but he seems okay this morning while he was out there playing Jack Frost with a camera.”

Gil smiled faintly and nodded. They got into JT’s car. Dani and Bright sat in the back, giving Gil shotgun. JT gladly followed the big truck back as it plowed more snow off the road. The cabin disappeared into the woods and JT was glad to see the end of it. 

“Are you okay, kid?” Gil asked, looking over the car seat.

“I will be. JT was a big help. It wasn’t an easy night for me.”

“For either of us between the ghosts of that place and trying to sleep next to a chihuahua.” JT grinned at the rear-view mirror. He watched Bright narrow his eyes.

“I’m going to regret not eating you to survive,” he grumbled.

Dani burst out laughing as Gil wagged his head. “Aw, JT. Especially after Bright told me you were like a big teddy bear looking out for him in the middle of the night.”

“Teddy bear?” JT arched his eyebrows.

“Sort of squeezable.” 

“When did _that_ happen?” JT grabbed the wheel harder as the car slid a bit on the road.

“I woke up with me wrapped around you. If nothing else, I guess it kept me quiet and warm for the rest of the night.” Bright shrugged.

“I’ll take that as a win really because I’m not sure I would have been up for another ramble about the fast Jell-O theater,” he teased.

“Hasty Pudding!” Bright snapped.

“Though your theater student girlfriend sounded good and wild.”

“So, you two bonded pretty well out there in the wilderness.” Dani grinned. 

“I think so. Gil, we’re going to need to get cadaver dogs out there, maybe hire NecroSearch and really give this whole cabin area another going over. Who knows how many people Watkins and my father brought up here?”

“That’s a big can of worms you want to open,” Gil said. “But you’re right. It couldn’t hurt. It’s always been debated if your father staged all his victims for us to find or were others hidden and still unknown.”

“He’ll never tell us, not even me. And I’m not even sure if Watkins brought people up here by himself. He could have chained people in the basement room and left them there to starve I suppose. It wasn’t until he murdered Shannon that he killed directly. It was fascinating watching him evolve right before my eyes.”

JT shook his head at the excitement in Bright’s voice. “Only you could be excited about your torturer changing his style to be more hands on.”

“It _was_ fascinating,” Bright protested. “I’m working on a paper.”

“Am I going to be hearing about this all the way home? Just like the necrophilia paper on the way up here?” JT groaned.

“I still don’t get how you don’t find that interesting.”

“And you don’t get to complain until you’ve had to watch him and Edrisa geeking out about who’s their favorite embalming pioneer and embalming technique.” Gil rolled his eyes.

“That’s a thing?” JT couldn’t hide the panic in his voice.

“Oh yeah.”

“You’re all being very mean to me after a night in the cabin my dad nearly murdered me at and the fact I have no coffee,” Bright pouted. “And _you_ didn’t let me and Edrisa geek out, Gil!”

“You’re fine,” Dani assured him, rubbing his arm.

“Yeah, he is. Also, he was right about there being something in the woods so he’s going to be insufferable all the way home.” JT laughed.

Bright shot him a dark look. “Just for that, I absolutely will be.”

“Thanks, JT,” Dani moaned.

“We’ll get him coffee first chance. That’ll help settle him,” Gil said in a tone that made JT wonder if he carried a sedative. “In fact, here. I didn’t want you missing too many doses.” He reached into his jacket pocket and handed over some pill bottles. “You have water back there.”

Bright nodded as Dani picked the bottle up from the floor and gave it to him. Bright took his meds.

“Dani, get him to tell you about his weekend in Salem,” JT suggested. It was a given Bright would talk all the way home. At least it should be about something happy. Okay, fine, apparently studying necrophilia made him happy but it creeped JT out. He didn’t mind listening to the history of the haunted town.

Bright chattered happily about Salem. JT hadn’t come around to listening to Bright’s inevitable non-stop high energy flow of conversation easily but now, he couldn’t quite imagine being in the car with Bright without it. He remembered the last trip to this cabin and back home again without finding him, the terrible tension between him and Dani. This trip back, all of them together, was infinitely better. Maybe being snowed in hadn’t been the worst thing. He understood Bright better now and that was only going to be to the good. 

That didn’t mean he didn’t occasionally wish for a muzzle for Bright when he really got on a roll. JT grinned at the image and drove on.


End file.
